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"the National Health System have yet to even send me a letter" That's the crucial point here. Health care failed him, but luckily he was rich enough to private
by fxtentacle 4y ago
"the National Health System have yet to even send me a letter"
That's the crucial point here. Health care failed him, but luckily he was rich enough to privately purchase multiple medical devices just to try it they might help.
- orzig 4y agoYou’re not wrong on the facts, but if you’re implying that we should not feel good about this story, I disagree. One crab has managed to climb out of the bucket. The rest of us should celebrate for a minute and then redouble our efforts to get everyone to the same place, leveraging the lessons he’s passed on. Upwards!
- fxtentacle 4y agoAgree. We very much should be happy for him. And thankful that open source granted him access to understanding these machines. And in addition to that, it would be great if we could improve access for people who are less fortunate.
- goodpoint 4y agoThere's more to that. Building open medical devices and knowledge in general helps humanity as a whole.
- arcticfox 4y agoYep. I happened to help another crab and I think it may be the single best thing I’ve ever done. My wife’s family was constantly making fun of my father-in-law for falling asleep during the day, falling out of chairs etc. One day I noticed he was fluttering in and out of sleep while driving me so I asked him if he wanted to try my travel CPAP that night - I have very mild apnea and can get by without it. He tried it and after the first night he was a completely different person, it was almost like someone drugged him up with PEDs. The home remodelers that were working there were jokingly peeved because he started helping them and they said he was going to put them out of work. Just transformative, I feel so good about it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- porphyra 4y agoConsidering how terrible sleep apnea is for the health, you would think that all healthcare systems and insurance companies would take it seriously. The costs of treating heart problems and stroke are much worse. But in practice it seems like no healthcare system puts in more effort than begrudgingly ordering a sleep test and then maybe a basic cpap after much hesitation. There are stories of people literally begging their doctors to give them a cpap.
- jimnotgym 4y agoI have cpap on the NHS. I got a quality machine, quality advice and quality follow up. It took a very long time to get it but the care itself was very good.
- GordonS 4y agoI had a CPAP machine on the NHS a few years back. The machine was OK, a low-mid range model. But they supplied everyone with a "medium" size of mask, so I had to buy a bigger mask myself. I'd say the quality of care I got was... shit. A very bored and uncaring nurse gave me some brief instructions, and got almost angry with me when my mask didn't fit and air hissed out the sides. I figured it out myself, and had zero follow ups for the 2 years I used the machine. They even made it difficult to give the machine back!
- Levitz 4y agoWell, just to offer some pushback in the thread, I can imagine one reason why. My father has sleep apnea, he is overweight, a heavy smoker and I reckon his daily intake of coffee could kill a small rodent. We are Spanish and public healthcare has blessed us with a CPAP machine... That he just won't use. He refuses to, complains that he feels too uncomfortable with it. I can't recall the last time he slept 8 hours in one go. And I wonder how common that is. The machine is noisy, does look like pulled out of a teenage horror movie and takes accustoming to. There is heavy friction for its use and that might be a serious problem to consider.